Conveying device



Dec. 29, 1953 H. c. RHODES CONVEYING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March27, 1950 INVENTOR. HERBERT C. RHODES ATTORNEY H. C. RHODES CONVEYINGDEVICE Dec. 29, 1953 Filed March 27, 1950 HHH 1 Q 34 .wm i in a (D m (\ll 1711 III/II 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 lllll h.

IIIHHHH/ INVENTOR. HERBERT C. RHODES ATTORNEY Dec. 29, 1953 H. c. RHODES2,664,188

' CONVEYING, DEVICE Filed March 27, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 JNVENTOR.

HERBERT c. RHODES ATTORNEY OIIIIIIIII.

Patented Dec. 29, 1953 U IT D S ES; F IC 2, 664,188 I coavsr erma ebert?B a Went fs: A mi afion mew 9.; saliansgiaoa 3 l ms.- eer-sin 'I'hisinventionrelatesfto the manufacture of certain bakery. p fodu cts'flinwhich thefdough, after being cut'fform'ed 'or molded into the individualpieces required," is allowed to rise for apredeten' 3 1 161 Der t e. fwhich period the raised dough pieces are subjected to the final baking'oi: frying; Permitting the dough to "rise dur nga red term ned ri isCommonly known iiithetrade as tdOughproofingl? iif airfi cu ar, he e e tn n rel es. o h manu tu e or is sv p hnu s' in. Whi hthe rings ofdoughnut dough are allowed to rise during a'j period, for'exaihple, ofone-half hour or more, befo t efcustoniary immersion in deep fryingtater oill' Heretofore the customary procedure in bakeries neth wmak nsi. ra se dou hn s is he n individual rings or pieces ofdough on wiremesh ra s hi h'tr y a e. ma al aes i proofing boxes or compartments" andalio'vwafd' to remain there for the desired length of proofing time. At

th ndb 'i e p oofi er e ra' s a a ai ae al 'mqv and t e; a se d u hnu qh' pieces then dropped into the deep' frying fat'or oil. In the piaeingor the individual dough pieces n' h 'tra'vs fei i fi a p ff ed ug r cq s'efte nadv r entl be la r wd nso w Qm whi h m aus s himeces n KI -flifi' a wel a iil vr frefw hthc' mmctr ea x a s n o h ndiv ualbqhia t nf eces- When the molding" and delivery o'f the'do'ugh nut. r ngs is p rfrm epid mddern ak r? m cninerypa large nuniber of the individual d u'h-r'iiecesare accumulated in the cour e of the half hour; or so'i'equired for the proper dough proofingf'or rising of the dough, andthehandlingf 9 he ea 'ii i n ie esjqfq during his s ab u ar heihb s equres abs)? n care nus considerable amount'of space. ob je ct 'ofthis'invention is to pifovide improved nieans' b3 which each 'individuafdoughniece will be taken carof rnechanically and au mii a h h i th e i P 'Q niibdir i e s. t fitQ e WW1 nd we i. lirians by' a Se e iece JQIu h' will be, a I yvedjto proof individually without any possibility of beingpla ce'd' in Contact tn any.- other piece 'of vdough;'as' r'nightoccur'ivhen several dtug fpieegs" are placed opagproosng na "A is herbbit Q hi hf i qn i t Prov de si hl' f deugh obfin ev ce in w chf max r mumnumbe 1 nd dua P e es o do gh a be ta n care o w th a mini m a un oSP??? duri he, prqofin pcr q "4 ierihl cr qbiest q this inven ipn is. tp ovide.

a device of the character indicated which can be Iiiadetq suit :p'artilar requirements, which'wi ll be inipleiin eons tion, which will requirea: niiniinum" amount foifexpense and care in main iib' i nd which will e1 u ar sk ll iii the handiingoiits'operation. The mannerfin whichtheiseobjects and other advantages are attained by my invention wilIbe readnyunderstood from the following description i my dough pr ofingdevice'with reference't'o' the greetings-wing drawings; these drawingsillustrate fe'rr 'ld formin'vvhichiny'deviceis'madei' "mine rawin s: iFi lis' a sectional plan view on line I -l of Figi2;

'Eigi2 is a sectional elevation on line 22 of- 7 i '-.""2 j 5'31 ili'ig." 3 is a'fragm entary end elevation, partly insectio'nj'take'nrmmmelertnri-gxzy a Fig. 4 'is an enlarged fragmentarydelevation of aportiodojfthedevice snowmen the right in Fig.'*2 and illustratesin fulllines one ofthedough carriers arranged in dough-supportingposition, andalso i 'ridicaites inbrokn lines the same dough carrier in subsequentdischarging positionj FigiI5 is a fragmentarysectiona1view taken on1ine'5-'"5 of Figz'4ybut illustrates in full 'lines a dough carrier indischarging "position, and in dieates in broken lines the same? doughcarrier subsequentlyirestored' to normal traveling: ordou'g'h"--ca'rry'ingposition;and "Fig'! 6""is 'a'viewi in'T'perspictiveof one of the dough carriers of the'device;

Whilemyi device 'can beused forany individual pieces of dough, which aredelivered successively will be found to be in the manufacture of raiseddoughnuts, as previously indicated, and thus my, device will bedescribed with specific reference. gQthisparticular use.

Referrin first t F 1 an 2 my d vic confined mostly'within a housing,indicated in gene a birth:v refe ence c a a ter !0, he ape and dimenions which may b vari d. to $141. con it n Pr ebl the, h u n is whiten:a ly is an u ar in. Plan as nd eai d in Pie arms side wal s and 1 mm andi n w l and eav suitabl Wi rs or r: u h as e W 91 vs nd .1 w ich em re t'nrb-l as aee sstoiiieinie q u vi a shaf s 3 n 16 are moseisd in he teasn a d are reta e ly 9-. Ported in S .ieb s Metals and bea n s t et:

tom and top walls of the housing. At least one of these vertical shafts,for example the shaft |3 (Fig. 2), extends up beyond the top of thehousing and has a driving pulley 32 keyed to its upper end. The pulley32 is arranged so as to be driven through a suitable belt connection 33with a motor 34 mounted on top of the housing.

A plurality of identical pulleys I! are keyed or otherwise secured toeach of the shafts l3, l4, l5 and I6 in equally spaced position asindicated in Fig. 2, and similar pulleys and 2| are located outside ofthe housingand are rotatably mounted on vertical stub shafts supportedin the brackets l8 and I9 respectively secured on the outside of thehousing, the two pulleys 20 and 2| being positioned approximately at thesame height from the bottom of the housing. All the pulleys haveV-shaped or U-shaped peripheral grooves to accommodate an endlesselement such as a cable, which element in its course passes successivelyaround all the pulleys in the manner hereinafter explained. Movement ofthe endless element or cable 26 is produced by its frictional engagementwith the driven pulleys of the device, for example, with the pulleyskeyed to the driven shaft l3, and the moving cable in turn producesrotation in unison of the remaining pulleys in the device.

The course of the endless moving element or cable 26 can be brieflyexplained with reference to Figs. 1, 2 and 3. Starting, for example,with the outside pulley 2|, as viewed in Fig. 1, the cable 26 passesaround the pulley 2| in counterclockwise direction, tangentially engagesa pulley on the shaft l4 and similarly a pulley on the shaft l3,thenpasses around the outside pulley 20 on the other end of the housing,again tangentially engages the same pulley on shaft l3, then proceeds toa pulley on the next level of shaft l4, passes around the latter, thenpasses around the next higher pulley on shaft l3, and continues in thismanner, passing around successively higher pulleys alternately on theshafts l4 and I3, until reaching the top pulleys of this tier within thehousing. Thence the cable 26 passes from the top pulley H on shaft |3 tothe corresponding top pulley on the shaft l5. From there the cablepasses to the top pulley on shaft l6 and then proceeds in downwardsuccession alternately around the pulleys on the shafts l5 and Hi untilreaching the bottom pulley on the shaft I6. From the bottom pulley onshaft I6 the cable passes to the bottom pulley on shaft I4 and thenproceeds in upward succession on the pulleys on the shafts l3 and I4until it reaches the level of the pulley 2|, whereupon the course of theendless cable begins anew. Thus the entire course of the cable, exceptduring its passage around the external pulleys 2| and 20, is confinedwithin the housing In. Nevertheless, as 'will be apparent, with acompact arrangement of the pulleys it is possible to accommodate a longlength of cable within the housing of only moderate size. For example, Ihave found that a convenient size dough proofing device in the formwhich I have illustrated can be mounted in a housing having externaldimensions of approximately 3 feet in width, 7 feet in length, and 5feet in height. Using pulleys 0f 8 inches in diameter, pulleys can beconveniently mounted on each of the four vertical shafts |3, l4, l5 andI6. With such arrangement the total length of cable will beapproximately 850 feet.

At equally spaced intervals along the cable 23 dough carriers 2'! aremounted. Preferably these carriers are substantially circular in shapehaving an extending arm portion (see Fig. 6) which terminates in a hingeloop 30, which loop flts around the cable 26, causin each carrier 21 tobe pivotally mounted on the cable 26. In order to prevent any sideslipping of the dough carriers with respect to the cable on which theyare hinged, I secure ring clamps 3| on the cable at both sides of thehinges loop 30 of each carrier. These ring clamps may be secured to thecable in any suitable manner and I have found it sufficient to pinchthem tightly on the cable.

While the dough carriers 21 may be made in various ways, I prefer tomake them out of plastic or similar material formed in an integral moldwith the top surface of the carrier being slightly concaved and formedwith perforations 28 (as illustrated in Fig. 6). A pair of flanges 29 atdiametrically opposite sides extend down below the underside of thecarrier, the purpose of which will be presently explained.

A rod-like track 22 for the dough carriers extends along through thedevice in parallel spaced relationship with respect to the travelingcable 26. This track 22 is supported by a series of bracket arms 25(Fig. l) secured on the inside of the housing Ill. The track 22 iscontinuous throughout its extent except at one point which is shownlocated near the external pulley 2| (Figs. 1 and 4). At this point thetrack breaks oil leaving an end 23 which is succeeded by a track portion24 positioned immediately below and inwardly with respect to the end 23and the cable 26.

As will now be apparent, the dough carriers 21, attached to the cable26, slide along the track 22. The two downwardly extending flanges 29 oneach dough carrier rest on the track and serve a supporting sliderunners for each dough carrier on the track. As each dough carrierpasses the end 23 of the track it swings down into substantiallyvertical position and its flanges or runners 29 then come intoengagement with the succeeding track portion 24, a illustrated in Figs.4 and 5. This track portion 24 then leads upwardly and outwardly, asshown, until it assumes the normal track position relative to the cableand thus quickly lifts the dough carrier back to its regular travelingposition.

The individual pieces or rings of doughnut dough are delivered into asuitable hopper, indicated at 35 in Figs. 1 and 2, which has adischarging mouth located directly above the travel ing dough carriersas they pass from the external pulley 20. By suitable means, which isnot shown since this does not constitute part of the present invention,the individual pieces or rings of dough are caused to be discharged fromthe hopper on to the dough carriers successively and with proper timingso that a piece or ring of dough is delivered on to each dough carrieras it appears below the mouth of the hopper and as the dough carrierspass from the pulley 20. As a result; each piece or ring of dough isthen carried along for approximately the entire course of the cable 26,the length of which course corresponds to the length of the cable, untilthe dough carrier reaches the end 23 of the track. At this point thedownward swing of the dough carrier from the end 23 of the track causesthe piece of dough to slide off the carrier and drop into a vessel,indicated at 36 in Figs. 1 and 2, in which boiling fat or oil ismaintained for frying the doughnuts.

5; Finally; by "means not-:shownand notincluded in this-invention, thefried doughnutsare removed fromthe frying fatlor oil.

In the particular size, which, as previously mentioned; I have found itmost convenient to make my doughnut. dough proofing device; andinawhichthe total cable: length is approximately 850. feet,.I' employ a:total of. 2400' dough carriers, thus spacing. th carriers; a.littlemore. than. 4 inches. apart: on center: By maintaining; the speedat which the cable 26' is driven-so thatxthe dough; carriers. will pass.beneath the: discharging mouth of the hopper 35 atthe rate of 60 perminute; the: speed which I have found to be generally most satisfactory,each dough. piece will require: about-a0 minutes to complete its travelthrough-the machine. Inother wordseach piece oriringof thedoughnut'doughis given aproofing, or'allowedi to rise, for a periodv of46' minutes from its delivery from the hopper 35 until being; dischargedinto the frying fator oil- Consequently doughnuts are delivered atthe-rate of 6.0- per minute or 2460 each 40 minutes? and each ring: ofthe doughnut dough is given apredetermined. period of 40 minutes forproofing; or rising before being fried. By the. various. meansheretofore employed in bakeries. for handling raised doughnut doughrings the proofing of 2400 dough rings for a period of 40 minutes hasrequired' many times the amount of space occupied by my device, if. mydevice is made in the size mentioned by way of illustration. Also, acertain amount of manual labor has heretofore been required to take careof the doughnut manufacturing. which is. performed. by my devicemechanically and automatically;

Qbviously the length of the proofing period can. easily be modified. bychanging the rate of speed, by which the cable 26 is driven that. is,the speed at whichthe driven shaft [3 is rotated and thus the length oftime. required for each piece of dough to pass through the device.

In the manufacture of raised doughnuts it is desirable that as much aspossible of the surface of the dough rings should be exposed to the airduring the proofing period. The reason for this is that a sealing filmof a sort forms on the outer surface of the dough as the result of thecontact with the air, and this sealing film on the outer surface of thedough prevents the boiling fat or oil in which the doughnut is friedfrom penetrating too far into the doughnut during the frying. Were itnot for this protetive film on the dough in the case of raised doughnutstoo much grease would be absorbed into the doughnuts which would causethem to be heavy and less palatable. In order to enable the maximumsurface of the doughnut dough ring to have full contact with the airduring the proofing period, I perforate the portion 28 of the doughcarriers on which the dough rests (see Fig. 6). I have found, however,that the perforations must not be too large nor too close together,otherwise the dough will drop down slightly in the perforations with theresult that at the end of the proofing period the dough will have atendency to stick to the carrier instead of sliding freely from thecarrier when the carrier is swung down to discharging position. Thus onthis account I have found that it is unsatisfactory to use wire screenor metal mesh to constitute the dough supporting surface of the doughcarriers. Most satisfactory results I have found are obtained with doughcarriers formed from molded plastic substantially as illustrated. Thedough carriers when made in this form are also light. in weight;amplesin. stren th; and; inexnena sive tomanufacture.

Numerousimodifications can. (if-course. beimade in. the particular:proofing; device which I have. illustratedand'described, withoutdepartingfrom. the principle of my invention" but the. particular, formwhich. I have described and illustrated: for; my proofing device: I.consider: as; the; preferred embodiment of. my invention,as:previ,o1.1s1i indi:

cated.

I'clairn:

1'. In ad'ough proofing deviceof; thecharacter described including. a,housing; a; pairsof. vertical.

shafts. mounted. in said. housing; a. plurality of identical pulleys-1mounted on: each shaft; the. pulleys on said shafts constitutingcorresponding tiers, an endless; flexible/element engaging all ofsaidpulleys andarranged to pass around each tier'of pulleyssuccessively; means for moving'said" flexible element-at a predeterminedrate. of speed; asingle trackparalleling said flexible element andspaced'a slight. distance from said flexible element and on a level withsaid-flexible'element throughout its'entire course except at one'poin-t.where said track is discontinued to providea sudden drop-off, aplurality of identical equally spaced dough carriers, each carrierhaving a lat"- eral' arm portion hinged on said flexible element, meansholding each of said carriers from Sliding longitudinally with respectto said flexible ele-- ment, said carriers resting centrally onandsliding along said track while beingheld balanced on said track andpulled along by said flexible element; eachof said carriers swingingsuddenly and momentarily from horizontal position to vertical positionwhen reaching said drop-off point of said track, and an inclinedportionof said'traclc starting below said flexible element at saiddropoff point and leading upwardly and outwardly until reaching thenormal position; of said track with respect to said flexible'element tocause eachof said carriers to swing back up to normal horizontalposition of travel while being pulled along over said inclined portionof said track, whereby pieces of dough when deposited on said carriersafter said carriers have passed beyond said inclined portion of saidtrack will be carried along for the length of time required for saidflexible element to complete its course up to said dropoif point andwill then be discharged from said carriers at said drop-off point.

2. In a dough proofing device of the character described including ahousing, a plurality of vertical shafts mounted in said housing, aplurality of identical pulleys mounted on each shaft, the pulleys onsaid shafts constituting tiers, an additional pulley mounted on theoutside of said housing, an endless flexible element engaging all ofsaid pulleys and arranged to pass around each tier of pulleyssuccessively, means for moving said flexible element at a predeterminedrate of speed, a rod-like single track paralleling said flexible elementand spaced a slight distance from said flexible element and on a levelwith said flexible element throughout its course except adjacent saidoutside additional pulley where said track is discontinued to provide asudden dropoff, a plurality of identical equally-spaced dough carriers,each carrier having a lateral arm portion hinged on said flexibleelement, means holding each of said carriers from sliding longitudinallywith respect to said flexible element, said carriers resting centrallyon and sliding along said track while being held balanced on said trackand pulled along by said flexible element, each of said carriersswinging suddenly and momentarily from horizontal position to verticalPosition when reaching said drop-oil point of said track, and aninclined portion of said track starting below said flexible element atsaid drop-oil point and leading upwardly and outwardly until reachingthe normal position of said track with respect to said flexible elementto cause each of said carriers to swing back up to normal horizontalposition of travel while being pulled along over said inclined portionof said track, whereby pieces of dough when deposited on said carriersafter said carriers have passed beyond said inclined portion of saidtrack will be carried along in said housing for the length of timerequired for said flexible element to complete its course up to saiddrop-off point and will then be discharged from said carriers at saiddrop-off point at said outside pulley.

3. In a dough proofing device of the character described including ahousing, a plurality of pairs of vertical shafts mounted in saidhousing, a plurality of identical pulleys mounted on each shaft, thepulleys on each pair of shafts constituting corresponding tiers, anadditional pulley mounted on the outside of said housing, a secondadditional pulley mounted on the outside of said housing at another sideof said housing from said first mentioned additional pulley and atsubstantially the same level, an endless cable engaging all of saidpulleys and arranged to pass around each tier of pulleys on one pair ofsaid shafts successively and then similarly around the tiers of pulleyson another pair of said shafts, and from said first mentioned outsidepulley to said second mentioned outside pulley, means for mying saidcable at a predetermined rate of speed, a rod-like track parallelingsaid cable and spaced a slight distance from said cable and on a levelwith said cable throughout its course except adjacent said firstmentioned outside additional pulley where said track is discontinued toprovide a sudden drop-oil, a plurality of identical equally-spaced doughcarriers, each carrier having a lateral arm portion hinged on saidcable, means holding each of said carriers from sliding longitudinallywith respect to said cable, said carriers resting centrally on andsliding along said track while being held balanced on said track andpulled along by said cable, each of said carriers swinging suddenly andmomentarily from horizontal position to vertical position when reachingsaid drop-oil point of said track, and an inclined portion of said trackstarting below said cable at said drop-oil point and leading up wardlyand outwardly until reaching the normal position of said track withrespect to said cable to cause each of said carriers to swing back up tonormal horizontal position of travel while being pulled along over saidinclined portion of said track, whereby pieces of dough when depositedon said carriers as said carriers pass around said second mentionedoutside pulley will be carried along in said housin for the length oftime required for said cable to complete its course up to said drop-offpoint and will then be discharged from said carriers at said drop-offpoint at said first mentioned outside pulley.

HERBERT C. RHODES.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,127,000 Hicks Feb. 2, 1915 1,226,592 Privett May 15, 19171,334,025 Embrey Mar. 16, 1920 2,017,046 Hanna Oct. 15, 1935 2,027,266Bogaty Jan. 7, 1936 2,144,182 Ellis Jan. 17, 1939 2,516,499 AlbrightJuly 25, 1950

